Natalie Daratony
Lauren Clark
English 101
17 November 2010
Losing Virginity to a Lie
Big screen films have been catching the public eye since they first came out in the late 19th century. The huge screen, the loud sounds, the twinkling lights attract all ages to the movie theater. Whether action film or love story the storylines and script were always chalked with pictures far from reality. Sadly as the decade’s progress, more and more of these unrealistic lifestyles are being portrayed flawlessly on the big screen and enchanting their audiences to do as they do. Almost all 21st century big screen movies contain a sexual element marketing sex as acceptable, inevitable and without consequence thus causing larger and younger audience to regretfully lose their virginity.
Popular movies always try to make the big bucks by either subtly hinting or even blatantly parading sexuality, sexual remarks, sexual references or even vivid sex scenes on their screens. Although these innuendoes and images are appealing to audiences, the overall effect on general audience is shocking and saddening. The Sociological Forum of Oxford did a study that “examined virginity-loss movies as tools for navigating early sexual life” (Carpenter). As younger kids are seeing older-aged movies and as the content within the younger aged movies get more depictive, the appeal of sex and its supposed benefits mindlessly ignites and blindly leads young audiences to navigate early sexual life’s. Many young audiences are only ever shown or told what sexuality is and how to interact with the opposite sex on any level through the movies they see. As the movies depict happy-go-lucky one night stands that never end in diseases or pregnancy, we as a society are in fact ending up with innumerable sexually transferred diseases and unexpected pregnancies. Not only is the big screen teaching young audiences false idea about sexuality and sex but also it is clearly and tragically linking “true love” with sex. Modern movie stories always seem to unfold in the same timetable two people meet, two people have sex and two people live happily ever after. These lies craftily masked by sexy actors and entwined into an emotional love story entrance any audience to long for such passion and romance outside of marriage.
The data in the Oxford study showed participants pointing to movies to “make sense of virginity loss” (Carpenter). Carpenter notably states, “discrepancies between participants’ personal stories and the scripts in the films experiences were resolved more positively in movies than in real life” and “such discrepancies may increase feelings of distress after “imperfect” virginity-loss encounters”. As people become comfortable with watching and being fed scripted movies about love through sex alone they in turn become numbly comfortable with living it out in their real life and reap “imperfect” results.
Although some popular movies do showcase true effects of sex, even still sex is not frowned upon, punished or shocking but oppositely glorified and accepted. For example, a movie like Juno makes big box-office money and high ratings yet is a movie all about a teenage girl who had sex. Though Juno undergoes ridicule and pregnancy affects the act of sex itself is in fact joked about in the movie. Statistics show that in the recent years teenage pregnancies have increased dramatically yet the big screen producers tend to veer away from showing the realities of living a carelessly sexual life. Rather movies paint pictures of healthy happy interactions that must contain a sexual element in order remain so. Reputations never get tainted and the bodies never get jaded by the ongoing and ridiculous portrayals of love and sex in popular films. Instead all aged audiences at large numbers are being convinced that sex is the one thing that will solve or better their current situation.
Some major films do not even necessarily showcase the sex, sexual acts, or its effects blatantly at all, rather tinge the film with subtle, seemly harmless tints of sexuality. This hidden sexual message is carefully and innocently tied into many Disney classics. Although Disney is known for their childlike films, upon greater analysis, it is clear the over-sexualized portrayals of women play a huge role in each tale. They always caricature the woman with a tiny waist and big boobs, which they sway around with as they bat their eyes. One teen developer expert noted her own daughter going to bed with a pajama top that could stretch off her shoulders because she wanted to show her shoulders like all the princesses do. This greatly disturbed the expert’s motherhood instinct and she went on to discuss how even Disney films present a danger to the young minds of children in their simple and very subtle way of telling little girls what they ought to talk like, dress like, look like and act like. Disney presents sensuality as not only natural but also what every dignified princess does and wears. This may not seem to have an effect on if these girls will have sex earlier in life and regret it but on the contrary what you learn and perceive to be appropriate in your youth effects how you present and protect your body in the near future.
Through these both styles of movies, messages tell boys and men to thirst after girls in order to sleep with them and girls and women are shown that dressing provocatively and having the perfect body is what every guy wants and the only thing they’ll like. It is highly unlikely to walk into a movie theatre today and not be exposed to some sexual element weather clear or hidden. Movie producers use it in a way to keep a now highly sexualized society entertained. Sex has no doubt always been around and always been a curious thing for virgin minds and bodies. Unfortunately now even young children are being shown what once was a private and intimate thing on a screen bigger than the closing your eyes and ears can escape from. The sincerity and purity of treasuring sex inside of marriage has been butchered and swept into the mainstream of now parading the act everywhere in everyway.
Big screen films whether cartoon, action, love or general always contain an element of sexual appeal and are creating a helplessly sexual society. This unrealistically trained society is in turn living through regretted and consequence-filled virginity-loss experiences that they were shown to have ended far differently in the fairy tale on the big screen.
Works Cited
Carpenter, Laura. “Virginity Loss is Reel/ Real Life: Using Popular Movies to Navigate Sexual Initiation.” Sociological Forum 24.4 (2009): n.pag. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
Hailey, J. “Juno: Plot Summary.” Imdb.com. n.d. Web. 18. Nov. 2010.
Silverman, Robyn. “Disney Princesses sexualizing your Daughter?” drrobynsilverman.com. 5 June 2008. Web. 18. Nov. 2010.
